DC Universe is a virtual reality, says Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison has described shared comic book universes as "virtual realities".

The Action Comics scribe told The Independent that writing within the DC Universe is like "building a medieval cathedral".

He said: "To me nobody talks about the really interesting stuff, which is about the fact these are virtual realities, they don't quite pick up on that. Somehow there's this thing, this DC Universe that exists inside our universe created by generations of people.

"When all the current ones are dead there'll still be people doing Superman stories, and there's something really bizarre about that notion of creating a little continuum. But it's not just one person's, it's not like Buffy, say, which was just Joss Whedon's really, this is a gigantic project that, it's like building a medieval cathedral or something."

Morrison added: "It's really strange what's going on and what's powering those characters is memes you know, and that to me is the fascinating thing. There's two dimensional time now and continuity and living characters that can be carried on in to the future."